Part 5: A Distorted Version of Our Normal Selves Summary and Analysis

"A Unitary Cause"

In Spring 2005 Mukherjee had to make a decision - to work as a clinician or a laboratory scientist. The author says his heart was in clinical work.

"The choice between the two paths is instinctual. Some of us inherently perceive ourselves as clinicians; others primarily as scientists. My own inclinations have changed little since the first day of my internship." Part 5, p. 337

Three of the seven people in Mukherjee's group continued at the clinic where they would run clinical trials and focus on the day to day care of patients. The remaining four people went to work in the lab. On the last day of their time as a solid unit, the group began to memorialize the patients who had not survived their battle...